Sumatran Tiger Cubs Caught on Camera in Threatened Forest

WWF camera traps recorded an astounding 12 tigers in just two months in the central Sumatran landscape of Bukit Tigapuluh, including two mothers with cubs and three young tiger siblings playfully chasing a leaf.

Bukit Tigapuluh was identified as a global priority Tiger Conservation Landscape by leading scientists and is one of six landscapes the government of Indonesia pledged to protect at the November 2010 tiger summit. Unfortunately much of it faces the looming threat of being cleared by the pulp and paper industry which includes companies like Asia Pulp and Paper/Sinar Mas Group and Barito Pacific.

WWF is among the prominent scientists and conservation groups urging the two companies and the Indonesian government to protect these forests that are home to tigers.

It is estimated that only around 400 Sumatran tigers are left in the wild. The Sumatran tiger and the other five surviving tiger subspecies – the Amur, Malayan, Bengal, Indochinese and South China – number as few as 3,200, compared to 100,000 a century ago. WWF is working to build the political, financial and public support to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.